Wellesley Institute

Wellesley Institute works in research and policy to improve health and health equity in the GTA through action on the social determinants of health.

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Developing HEIA in Ontario

The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and Toronto Central LHIN developed a Health Equity Impact Assessment (HEIA) tool designed to assist LHINs and health service providers in service planning.  The Ministry had researched the most effective tools and frameworks for HEIA from other jurisdictions and developed a HEIA tool and how-to resource, first used for the Aging at Home initiative in 2008.

The Wellesley Institute partnered with MOHLTC and Toronto Central LHIN to consult practitioners, refine the tool, and pilot test it in 2009.  Consultations were held with a range of GTA-area health service providers and consumers in March, the template was revised and a new step-by-step workbook developed, and this was piloted in the summer.  MOHLTC has subsequently piloted HEIA further in several LHINs and it is currently being used in others.

The current HEIA template and workbook are available from the Toronto Central LHIN’s equity page.

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Acknowledgement of Traditional Land

We would like to acknowledge this sacred land on which the Wellesley Institute operates. It has been a site of human activity for 15,000 years. This land is the territory of the Huron-Wendat and Petun First Nations, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. The territory was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and Confederacy of the Ojibwe and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes.

Today, the meeting place of Toronto is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work in the community, on this territory.

Revised by the Elders Circle (Council of Aboriginal Initiatives) on November 6, 2014

In the spirit of equity and inclusion, if we can improve on this statement, please contact us. Thank you.